University  of  California  •  Berkeley 

THE  PETER  AND  ROSELL  HARVEY 
MEMORIAL  FUND 


FOR    PRIVATE    DISTRIBUTION. 


FROM 

NEW  YORK  TO  ALASKA 

AND     BACK    AGAIN. 


BY 

ARCHIBALD  E.  STEVENSON. 


NEW  YORK: 

PRESS  OF  STYLES  &  CASH,  77  EIGHTH  AVENUE, 
I893. 


From  New  York  to 
Alaska  and  Back  Again 


CHAPTER  I. 

NEW  YORK  TO  PORTLAND,  OREGON, 

We  started  from  New  York  on 
the  i  ith  of  May  and  left  the  depot 
at  1.30  P.  M.  Going  up  the  Hud 
son  River  we  saw  a  beautiful  scene: 
the  mountains  were  all  covered  with 
grass  and  trees.  We  passed  through 
Albany,  and  that  night  we  passed 
Niagara.  The  next  day  we  had 
breakfast  at  Detroit ;  we  took  dinner 
at  Niles.  Colonel  Shepard,  who 


FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 


gave  it,  gave  everybody  some  roses. 
That  afternoon  at  four  we  reached 
Chicago.  We  went  in  a  coach  to 
the  other  station,  where  we  waited 
until  they  called  the  trains  ready. 
Then  we  went  down  to  get  settled 
on  the  car,  and  found  that  it  was 
the  wrong  train.  We  got  all  our 
things  and  went  to  another  car, 
which  we  thought  was  the  right 
one,  and  we  got  all  fixed  there,  when 
we  found  it  was  wrong  again.  So 
we  collected  the  things  once  more, 
and  made  a  new  start.  The  next 
car  was  the  right  one. 

We  went  on  that  night ;  at  tea  I 
took  sick,  and  could  not  eat  any 
thing.  Fortunately,  Dr.  Davis  was 
on  board,  who  cured  me  up  by  the 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN. 


time  we  got  to  Salt  Lake.  At  Salt 
Lake  City  papa  and  sister  went  to 
church  in  the  morning,  and  mama 
and  Marguerite,  that's  my  sister, 
went  to  the  Mormon  Tabernacle  in 
the  afternoon.  Monday  morning 
we  went  up  to  Camp  Douglas  by 
the  electric  cars  and  looked  all  round. 
We  saw  the  Indian  soldiers,  some 
lying  down  on  their  couches  and 
some  smoking.  Those  that  were 
outside  were  shooting  at  a  target. 

There  was  lots  of  sage  brush 
around.  We  went  down  the  other 
electric  car  on  our  left.  Coming 
down  we  saw  Brigham  Young's 
grave  and  the  great  Mormon  temple, 
towering  above  every  other  house. 
After  luncheon  we  took  a  narrow 


FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 


guage  railroad  to  Garfield  Beach. 
When  we  got  there  a  great  many 
gnats  bit  us.  Sister  and  I  played 
on  the  beach  for  a  while  ;  then  we 
went  up  to  a  field  and  picked  a 
great  many  curious  flowers,  which  I 
don't  know  the  names  of.  We  took 
some  sage  brush  too.  We  went 
back  to  the  city  and  started  that 
night  for  the  Dalles  on  the  Columbia 
River. 

The  next  morning  we  took  break 
fast  at  Pocatello  and  dinner  at 
Mother  Ryan's,  where  the  cake  was 
piled  up  a  foot  high,  and  some  even 
more  that.  That  evening  we  had 
our  tea,  I  think,  at  Huntington, 
The  next  morning  we  took  breakfast 
at  the  Dalles.  There  was  too  much 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN. 


salmon  for  me,  and  so  I  did  not  eat 
much.  Going  out  we  saw  a  big 
salmon ;  it  must  have  been  three  or 
four  feet  long;  it  was  immense. 
There  was  a  poppy  in  the  next 
room  that  was  fully  half-a-foot across. 
We  went  by  train  to  Bonneville, 
where  we  took  the  boat  down  the 
Columbia  Riven  It  went  25 
miles  an  hour,  which  I  think  is 
pretty  fast  for  a  boat,  almost  as  fast 
as  an  ocean  greyhound.  We  passed 
some  pretty  falls.  About  six  o'clock 
we  reached  Portland,  Oregon. 

There  were  a  great  many  nice 
people  there:  Mrs.  Radcliffe  and 
Dr.  Radcliffe,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tucker 
and  Miss  Tucker,  Mr.  Worrall, 
Mr.  Buchanan,  Mr.  Gillett,  Mr. 


FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 


and  Mrs.  Dulles,  Col.  McCook 
and  his  wife  and  his  little  girls. 

Mama  and  sister  and  I  went 
with  some  friends  to  see  the  Balti 
more,  and  some  other  friends  went 
to  the  Charleston.  There  were 
two  elevators  in  the  Portland  Hotel, 
and  we  named  one  the  Baltimore 
and  the  other  the  Charleston.  Now 
I  will  tell  you  what  the  Baltimore 
and  the  Charleston  are :  they  are 
two  great  white  iron-clad  war  ships. 
The  Baltimore  cost  $2,000,000,  at 
least  one  of  the  sailors  told  me  so, 
though  I  don't  know  whether  it  is 
true  or  not.  We  raced  the  elevators; 
the  Baltimore  always  beat  when  it 
had  the  right  man. 

One  day  we  went  on   a  boat  to 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN. 


Willamette  Falls  ;  we  walked  about 
Oregon  City  and  picked  lots  of  wild 
flowers.  When  we  got  on  the 
steamer,  we  saw  a  few  wild  rose 
bushes  ;  they  were  in  blossom,  and 
we  gave  a  boy  a  quarter  to  get 
some  for  us.  Another  day  we 
went  out  on  the  electric  car  to  East 
Portland.  In  the  afternoon,  we 
went  to  the  General  Assembly  and 
Colonel  McCook  made  a  speech, 
but  did  not  have  time  to  finish, 
which  was  a  pity. 

CHAPTER  II. 

TACOMA. 

When  the  General  Assembly  was 
done  we  started  from   Portland  to 


io  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 


Tacoma.  It  was  very  rainy  when 
we  arrived  that  evening,  and  we 
had  some  trouble  in  getting  a  coach 
to  take  us  to  the  hotel ;  but  at  last 
we  reached  there  and  had  our  din 
ner.  The  next  day  we  went  all 
round  on  the  cable  car,  and  saw 
the  machinery  that  ran  the  cable. 
It  was  lots  of  fun  to  see  the  great 
wheels  spinning  around .  We  watch 
ed  for  Mt.  Tacoma,  but  the  clouds 
covered  it  completely  until  Satur 
day  afternoon,  when  we  saw  about 
half  of  it.  We  went  down  to  see  the 
Queen  by  the  electric  car.  When 
we  first  saw  our  state-room  it  looked 
so  small  that  we  thought  it  would 
be  a  tight  squeeze.  It  was  hard 
work  getting  across  the  pier,  be- 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN. 


cause  there  were  lots  of  boards  out; 
it  was  very  dangerous,  and  I  think 
it  a  shame  they  do  not  fix  it  up. 

We  also  went  to  the  great  lumber 
mill.  I  think  it  must  have  been 
fun  for  the  men  to  stand  on  a  kind 
of  car  with  a  great  redwood  tree  on 
it  and  the  great  circular  saws  cutting 
it  into  boards.  We  saw  a  small 
machine  which,  when  the  man 
pushed  the  boards  into  it,  made  a 


groove  in  them. 


Then  we  took  the  electric  car  for 
about  half-a-mile,  and  then  a  little 
railroad  car  which  went  to  the 
smelter.  We  first  went  to  the 
storage  room  and  looked  at  all  the 
ores,  some  of  which  were  ground 
up.  Then  we  went  to  another 


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room.  In  the  middle  of  it  was  a 
big  hole ;  the  smoke  and  steam 
came  out  of  it  like  fury,  and  I  did 
not  care  to  stay  there  long.  Then 
we  went  to  the  furnaces.  All  round 
were  iron  wheelbarrows  full  of  red- 
hot  melted  ores.  Then  we  went 
across  a  swamp  which  had  a  board 
walk  over  it,  only  one  board 
wide,  which  seemed  rather  danger 
ous  to  me.  Over  there  we  passed 
through  rooms  which  had  ground 
up  ores  with  silver  and  gold  in 
them. 

In  the  evening  we  met  a  gentle 
man  at  the  table  in  the  hotel.  I 
did  not  know  who  he  was  at  first. 
He  said  to  Papa  :  May  I  speak  to 
your  boy?  He  gave  me  his  card, 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  13 

and  we  found  out  that  his  little  girl 
went  to  Marguerite's  school. 

Sabbath  night  we  went  on  board 
the  Queen.  Monday  morning  at 
four  o'clock  we  started  for  Seattle. 
We  did  not  get  off  there,  but  did 
at  Port  Townsend,  which  was  our 
next  stop,  where  we  took  a  short 
walk  through  the  town.  Anacortes 
was  the  next  place  we  saw.  We 
only  stayed  there  a  little  while,  see 
ing  it  from  the  boat. 

CHAPTER   III. 

VICTORIA   AND   WRANGEL. 

That  evening,  going  into  Victoria, 
we  saw  a  wrecked  steamer.  I  sup 
pose  that  they  could  not  have  had 


14  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 

a  very  good  pilot ;  but  there  is  a 
channel,  or  our  vessel  would  have 
been  wrecked. 

It  was  a  beautiful  evening. 
There  must  have  been  a  strong 
current,  for  when  they  threw  out 
the  rope  the  dummy  engine  started. 
Unhappily,  the  rope  snapped,  and 
they  had  to  draw  it  in  and  make  a 
loop  in  the  end  ;  so  it  was  a  long  time 
before  we  landed.  Then  we  got  a 
carriage  and  drove  all  around.  The 
funniest  part  was  Chinatown.  As 
we  passed  a  house  there,  they  must 
have  been  having  a  ball,  for  we 
heard  something  that  sounded  like 
tinpans  and  drums;  it  was  funny 
to  hear.  We  bought  a  souvenir 
spoon  with  a  beaver  on  it. 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  15 

Now  we  go  on.  The  next  place 
was  Fort  Wrangel ;  we  saw  a  great 
many  pretty  things.  My  father  had 
a  camera  along.  As  we  were  going 
through  a  small  street  we  saw  a 
young  Indian  girl  with  a  baby;  she 
was  rather  pretty  for  an  Indian, 
and  my  father  took  her  picture. 
Then  we  went  along  the  beach  and 
saw  a  few  totem  poles.  Going  to 
one  of  the  Chiefs'  house  we  had  to 
cross  a  dangerous  bridge— planks  out 
-and  it  was  not  very  easy  to  go  over. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

JUNEAU,  AND  SITKA  AND  MUIR  GLACIER. 

When  we  woke  next  morning  we 
were  at  Taku  glacier.      1    did   not 


FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 


feel  very  comfortable  that  morning. 
I  had  not  been  used  to  that  kind  of 
weather  yet.  We  took  in  ice,  and 
there  were  so  many  beautiful  blue 
icebergs— small.  Some  looked  like 
a  man.  They  were  in  all  shapes. 

Now  we  go  on  to  Douglas  Island. 
When  we  got  off  the  Queen  we 
went  to  a  gold  stamp  mill.  It 
made  such  a  noise  that  it  gave  me 
a  bad  headache.  We  passed  into 
a  man's  store ;  he  showed  us  his 
moulds ;  he  took  the  gold  from  the 
stamp  mill  and  put  it  into  his  air 
tight  stove  or  oven.  He  had  a 
kind  of  spout  which  led  the  quick 
silver  out  into  a  big  barrel.  Then 
we  went  back  to  the  ship.  My 
father  went  to  the  mine. 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.       17 


We  went  next  to  Juneau  across 
the  channel.  It  was  raining  when 
we  got  there,  and  1  did  not  go  out, 
so  I  do  not  know  much  about  it. 
Now  we  go  to  Chilcat.  We  do 
not  know  a  speck  about  Chilcat, 
because  our  captain  got  up  there 
before  any  of  us  were  awake  and 
turned  round  to  go  to  Sitka.  That 
evening  we  got  there.  At  the  set 
ting  sun,  it  was  beautiful ;  Mt. 
Edgecumbe  with  the  fleecy  clouds 
on  it,  and  the  small  town  of  Sitka 
and  the  great  hills.  We  stayed 
until  12  o'clock  Sabbath. 

When  we  got  off  the  boat  we 
met  Dr.  Thwing,  who  took  us  to 
the  Mission  house,  and  to  see  the 
Museum.  There  were  a  great 


1 8  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 


many  curious  things  in  the  museum 
-whales'  backbones  and  ribs,  and  a 
few  mammoths'  tusks.  Inside  we 
saw  a  big,  square  wooden  box  or 
bowl,  and  whoever  could  drink  all 
the  water  in  it  in  one  gulp  would 
get  something.  The  keeper  was  a 
Hoonah  Indian,  I  think  ;  and  out 
side  I  saw  a  cannon,  very  rusty. 
Then  Dr.  Thwing  took  us  up  to 
the  mission  house,  as  I  said  before. 
We  saw  Mt.  Edgecumbe  from  his 
house,  and  we  saw  a  poor  Indian, 
whose  name  was  Joseph,  but  they 
called  him  Crippled  Joseph.  He 
had  sat  in  his  bed  for  five  years 
without  being  able  to  move  his 
legs.  They  had  two  little  Indian 
boys,  who  liked  him  very  much. 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  19 

One  of  them  made  a  little  stand  to 
hold  some  books  so  that  he  could 
look  at  the  pictures.  And  when 
they  wanted  to  make  the  bed,  they 
had  to  put  him  on  a  stretcher  and 
carry  him  to  another  one.  Then 
Dr.  Thwing  took  us  to  another 
house  where  the  Indian  children 
gave  us  an  exhibition  ;  -they  all  had 
American  flags,  and  marched  in  a 
row  and  said  what  different  states 
give. 

We  walked  away  round  on  the 
beach,  and  saw  a  great  many  curious 
things.  A  cane  with  a  turkey's  foot 
fastened  on  ;  a  big  coral  fan  about 
three  feet  long  and  two  across— I 
don't  think  there  are  many  of  them 
up  there— some  Alaska  furs,  and 


20  FMOM  NEW  YORK  TO 

many  carvings  on  wood  and  bone 
and  silver;  some  were  pretty  and 
some  were  not.  Beaded  bottles, 
and  little  hats  and  baskets,  some 
three  inches  high,  and  some  a  foot, 
with  gay  colors  in  them. 

The  Indians  take  silver  dollars 
and  hammer  and  shape  them  into 
spoons,  and  carve  salmon,  ravens 
and  other  things  on  them.  Rudolph 
made  the  nicest  ones  we  saw. 

Saturday  we  went  looking  around; 
on  Sabbath  we  went  into  the  Greek 
church,  and  the  man  who  kept  it 
let  us  see  the  Holy  of  Holies,  which 
I  do  not  suppose  they  allow  many 
people  to  see.  We  then  went  up  to 
the  Mission  school. 

When  we  got  to  Glacier  Bay  it 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  21 

was  about  1 2  o'clock  at  night.  The 
next  morning  we  got  up  and  rowed 
over  to  the  Muir  Glacier.  We 
went  travelling  all  around,  and  it 
was  beautiful  to  see  the  blue  rivers 
of  the  melting  glacier.  In  the 
afternoon  we  sat  in  the  hot  sun  on 
the  beach  and  enjoyed  the  beautiful 
sight.  Sister  and  I  climbed  up  to 
the  top  of  the  bluff  and  looked 
down  upon  the  people,  who  looked 
very  little.  It  was  very  hard  to 
get  up  there,  because  every  step 
you  took  you  slid  back  almost  as 
far  as  your  last  step  Our  friend, 
Mr.  Dix,  went  up  and  touched  the 
face  of  the  glacier  with  his  cane. 
My  mother  went  near  it  again  in  the 
afternoon,  and  as  she  came  back 


22  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 

along  the  beach  she  found  some 
peat;  my  father  was  glad  to  get  it. 
It  was  funny  to  see  the  Indians; 
they  did  not  like  to  be  taken  by  the 
Kodak  camera  Even  those  who 
did  not  know  a  word  of  English 
except  this,  could  say  Kodak,  and 
know  what  it  was  for. 


CHAPTER  V. 

GOING  BACK  TO  PORTLAND. 

That  evening  at  seven  o'clock  we 
started.  When  we  got  away  down 
Glacier  Bay,  we  looked  back  on 
Muir.  The  long  stretch  of  ice  and 
the  great  snow  mountains  were 
beautiful  to  behold. 

There  were   a   great  many   nice 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  23 

people  on  board  the  Queen,  and 
a  few  children.  Carl  Wirt  and  I  used 
to  play  hide  and  go  seek  on  board 
ship;  then  I  got  acquainted  with 
his  sister  Pauline  and  with  Mar 
garet  Washburnand  Mark  Willing. 
Marguerite  and  Pauline  and  I  got 
our  wraps  and  went  up  to  the  hurri 
cane  deck  and  played  there  some 
times. 

When  we  got  down  quite  a  dis 
tance  we  saw  the  old  deserted 
town  of  Metla-Katla.  We  had  an 
entertainment  one  evening  on  the 
boat:  first  they  had  an  Indian 
village  and  a  Medicine  man  ;  then 
a  Japanese  song,  and  Mr.  Dix 
was  a  Japanese  juggler.  He  did 
very  well.  The  last  act  was  min- 


24  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 

strels.  They  were  blackened  up 
like  colored  people,  and  said  all 
sorts  of  funny  things.  Here  is 
one  of  them.  "Did  you  know 
Bruder  Jonathan  that  Julius  Caesar 
came  near  marrying  an  Irish 
wife?"  "Why  no,  Jim,  when  was 
that?"  "Why  when  he  and  his 
army  was  marching  along  he  come 
to  the  river  and  proposed  to  bridge 
it."  Next  evening  my  father  gave 
a  lecture  on  glaciers,  which  was 
very  nice.  We  stopped  at  De 
parture  Bay,  where  we  took  in  coal. 
We  stayed  there  twenty-four 
hours,  and  went  walking  along  a 
pathway  to  another  boat  and  asked 
the  captain  if  he  had  any  mail. 
He  gave  us  a  couple  of  papers,  which 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  25 

; — __ — 

we  brought  back  to  the  steamer.  It 
was  funny  to  watch  the  little  propel 
ler  and  a  string  of  five  boats  attached, 
go  steaming  off  to  Nanaimo. 

The  beautiful  Nanaimo  grass, 
sweet-scented,  was  brought  on 
board  for  sale.  That  evening  my 
sister  picked  a  few  wild  straw 
berries  in  the  woods,  but  they  were 
very  small. 

Next  morning  we  started  for 
Victoria,  where  we  arrived  safely. 
My  father  saw  a  fern,  not  a  tree 
fern,  but  the  fern  was  six  feet  in 
height,  and  I  thought  that  was 
rather  large.  The  strawberries 
were  very  large  and  nice  there. 

At  Seattle,  as  before,  we  did  not 
get  off.  It  was  pretty  to  see  the 


26  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 

boats  in  dock    and   the    spreading 
town  on  shore. 

We  got  to  Tacoma  at  dark,  and 
the  lights  looked  beautiful.  We 
went  up  to  the  hotel,  got  nice 
rooms,  and  went  to  bed.  Next 
morning  about  eleven  or  twelve  we 
left  for  Portland,  Oregon,  which 
we  reached  late  in  the  evening. 
We  stopped  at  the  Portland  Hotel 
The  next  morning  we  went  up  to 
Portland  Heights.  The  view  was 
grand.  The  Willamette  and  all 
the  steamers,  which  looked  like  toy 
boats ;  and  we  look  around  and  see 
Mt.  Hood,  Mt.  Tacoma  and  Mt. 
St.  Helens,  Mt.  Adams  and  Mt. 
Jeffersop^  These  mountains  can 
be  seen  only  on  a  clear  day. 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  27 

CHAPTER  VI. 

TO  SAN  FRANCISCO  AND  THE  YOSEMITE. 

The  next  day  we  started  for  San 
Francisco,  passing  the  Willamette 
Falls.  The  next  morning  we  saw 
Mt.  Pitt.  Then  we  stopped  at  a 
town  called  Ashland,  where  every 
body  got  cherries  and  strawberries, 
which  were  very  good. 

When  we  took  tea,  we  were 
nearest  to  Mt.  Shasta;  we  were 
only  twelve  miles  away.  It  looked 
tremendous,  which  it  is.  The  next 
morning,  about  nine  o'clock,  we 
reached  San  Francisco. 

We  went  to  the  Occidental 
Hotel,  took  our  breakfast,  and  went 


28  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 

to  our  rooms.  That  morning  we 
went  out  to  Seal  Rock  and  saw  a 
great  many  seals,  among  them 
General  Butler  and  his  wife.  Then 
as  we  were  starting  to  come  home, 
papa  passed  a  target  place,  and 
thought  he  would  try  to  shoot  a 
little.  He  hit  the  centre  five  or  six 
times  out  of  ten,  so  I  think  that  he 
did  very  well.  After  that  we  took 
a  carriage  and  rode  all  round  the 
park,  where  there  were  many 
beautiful  flowers.  Then  we  went 
back  to  the  hotel.  The  next  day 
we  rode  all  round  in  the  cable  cars. 
That  night  we  got  into  a  narrow 
gauge  railroad  and  rode  to  the 
park,  which  is  a  very  beautiful  one, 
with  beautiful  beds  of  flowers. 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  29 

Next  evening  we  started  for 
Yosemite  Valley.  In  the  morning 
we  got  to  Raymond  ;  there  we  took 
our  breakfast,  and  then  took  the 
stage  to  Grant  Springs,  26  miles 
from  Raymond,  and  rode  13  miles 
to  Wawona  in  the  afternoon.  As 
we  came  spinning  down  the  hill 
and  saw  the  Wawona  hotel  and  the 
fountain  playing,  it  looked  very 
nice  after  our  hot,  dusty  ride.  Down 
by  a  small  stream  was  a  cage  with 
two  Alaska  bears.  The  next 
morning  we  went  out  walking,  and 
saw  tacked  up  on  a  tree,  "  To  the 
lake."  When  we  got  there,  we 
found  it  was  made  of  a  little  stream 
dammed  up.  Monday  morning 
we  went  into  the  Yosemite.  The 


30  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 

stage  passed  by  the  Bridal  Veil 
Falls,  and  we  felt  the  spray.  Then 
we  saw  the  Yosemite  Falls,  and 
reached  the  little  Hotel  Stoneman. 
We  got  washed,  which  we  needed 
very  badly. 

Right  at  the  side  of  the  hotel 
rose  Glacier  Point,  3,000  feet  sheer 
rock.  At  the  back  of  the  hotel 
was  the  Half  Dome.  I  do  not 
know  how  high  it  was. 

We  bought  a  fishing-line  and 
went  down  to  the  river  to  catch 
some  fish.  My  sister  saw  about 
fifteen  or  sixteen  fishes,  and  she 
put  her  line  down.  The  fishes 
appeared  to  be  sleepy  and  lazy, 
so  that  they  did  not  go  after  the 
bait. 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  31 

The  next  morning  we  rode  up  to 
Mirror  Lake,  and  afterward  went 
back  to  the  foot  of  the  trail,  where 
we  waited  till  the  horses  and  mules 
came  up.  My  sister  had  the  funniest 
looking  mule— it  looked  like  a  don 
key.  My  mule  was  the  stubbornest 
animal  I  ever  saw.  Up  the  trail 
we  stopped  at  Vernal  Falls.  Near 
the  edge  there  is  a  hole  with  a  kind 
of  bannister,  which  we  looked  over 
at  the  falls.  Up  at  the  highest 
point  of  the  trail,  which  was  1,900 
feet,  there  was  a  slanting  rock  with 
a  few  stones  piled  up  and  some  dirt 
packed  down.  The  stones  might 
slip,  and  down  you  would  go  1,900 
feet,  and  that  would  be  a  calamity. 
Then  we  went  down  a  little  way  to 


32  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 

Casa  Nevada,  and  felt  the  spray 
coming  down  like  rain  from  the 
Nevada  Fall,  which  was  very 
beautiful.  Then  we  went  back  and 
down  the  trail.  On  the  way  down 
our  guide  had  to  get  off  his  horse 
and  pull  my  stubborn  mule  down 
the  rest  of  the  way.  I  thought  I 
ought  to  be  able  to  ride  alone,  so  I 
rode  back  to  the  hotel.  Then  we 
took  our  dinner. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

TO  DEL  MONTE. 


The  next  morning  we  went  away 
back  to  San  Francisco.  We  stayed 
there  a  day.  Then  we  went  to 
Del  Monte.  It  took  five  hours  to 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  33 

go.  We  got  there  about  noon,  and 
rode  up  to  the  Del  Monte  hotel  and 
got  our  rooms.  On  Sabbath  we 
went  to  church  at  Monterey.  In 
the  afternoon  we  walked  round  the 
lake  seeing  great  fields  of  water 
lilies,  palms,  colias,  plume  grass, 
cactus  and  yucca. 

Monday  morning  we  went  on  the 
street  cars  to  Monterey  and  on  to 
Pacific  Grove.  On  the  way  we  met 
a  procession,  as  it  was  the  Fourth 
of  July. 

M  onday  afternoon  we  went  into  the 
Maze  ;  we  got  in  and  out  all  right. 
Then  we  got  a  donkey  cart  and 
rode  all  round  the  grounds.  There 
were  a  great  many  fire-crackers 
about,  and  our  donkey  stepped  on 


34  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 

one,  which  sent  him  running  all  round 
the  lake.  Then  we  went  back  to  the 
hotel.  Tuesday  morning  we  went 
down  to  Monterey,  which  was  only 
a  mile  away.  We  stopped  at  a 
curiosity  shop,  where  they  had  all 
sorts  of  things.  Among  them  some 
horned  toads,  a  young  whale's  back 
bone,  and  some  shells  called  chitons. 
As  we  went  along,  some  of  the 
pavements  were  made  of  whales' 
backbones,  and  looked  very  queer. 

We  went  back  to  the  Hotel  Del 
Monte  for  luncheon.  That  after 
noon  we  ordered  another  donkey 
cart.  When  we  started  out  we 
met  some  other  children  in  a  cart, 
and  they  told  us  that  our  donkey 
was  bleeding,  so  we  drove  up  to 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  35 

the  stable  and  asked  for  another. 
They  said  that  the  others  were  all 
out,  and  that  it  would  not  hurt  it  to 
go  on  ;  but  sister  and  I  would  not 
drive  the  poor  donkey.  Then  we 
went  to  the  bowling  alley,  where 
we  played  awhile  until  it  was  time 
to  go  in. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

GOING  HOME. 

The  next  day  we  started  for  San 
Francisco,  from  which  place  we 
went  to  Berkeley  to  see  the  Univer 
sity  of  California.  Prof.  Lawson 
showed  us  a  great  many  different 
ores,  some  leaf  gold,  and  some 
great  crystals,  I  do  not  remember 


36  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 


the  name  of,  and  a  great  many  other 
things  which  it  would  take  too  long 
to  tell.  Then  we  went  back  to  San 
Francisco,  and  next  morning  started 
for  Salt  Lake  City. 

Crossing  the  Sierras,  the  great 
American  river  valley  near  Cape 
Horn  is  magnificent.  Crossing  the 
desert  afterward  we  saw  a  mirage, 
which  was  very  pretty;  it  looked 
like  a  pond  with  trees  all  around  it. 
We  saw  another  mirage,  which 
looked  like  Great  Salt  Lake,  and 
some  thought  that  it  was,  but  it  was 
not.  We  got  to  Salt  Lake  City 
about  ten  o'clock  for  the  train  was 
delayed.  Next  morning,  Sabbath, 
we  went  to  church.  On  Monday 
my  father  went  to  the  mines  by  a 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  37 

narrow  gauge  railroad,  and  mother 
took  Marguerite  and  me  out  to 
Garfield  beach,  where  sister  took  a 
bath  in  the  lake  ;  but  I  did  not,  as 
I  had  a  cold.  The  bath  houses  were 
very  nice  ;  the  rooms  were  double, 
one  part  having  a  shower  bath  and 
a  basin  in  it.  There  was  an  electric 
light  too,  so  it  could  be  used  at 
night.  Next  morning  we  went  to 
Camp  Douglas  again,  as  we  did 
before,  and  that  afternoon  we  walked 
about  the  city.  There  was  a  large 
place  with  a  high  wall  round  it  and 
houses  inside  ;  the  Mormons  built 
it  when  they  first  came,  because  they 
were  afraid  of  the  Indians. 

The    next    day    we    started    for 
Glenwood     Springs,     and     passed 


38  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 

Utah  Lake  and  Great  Salt  Lake. 
We  crossed  the  edge  of  the  Wasatch 
mountains  and  saw  the  Book  Cliffs. 
On  the  desert  every  here  and  there 
was  a  hot  stone,  which  made  a 
whirlwind.  And  then  we  came  to 
the  Grand  river,  and  got  to  Glen- 
wood  Springs  about  9  o'clock.  My 
father  went  up  to  Aspen  to  see 
some  silver  mines  that  night.  The 
next  morning  we  went  to  see  the 
bath  house,  a  red  stone  building 
with  bath-rooms;  and  when  you 
came  out,  they  would  give  you  a 
cup  of  Turkish  coffee.  That  after 
noon  we  ordered  a  carriage  for  half- 
past  three,  and  went  up  to  see  some 
friends.  When  we  got  there  we 
climbed  up  the  mountain  with 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  39 

the  boys  (Bouchier  and  William), 
and  when  we  got  near  the  top 
there  were  a  good  many  cactus 
bushes  ;  the  name  of  them  was 
"  prickly  pear/'  and  I  got  a  great 
many  spines  in  my  hands,  which 
did  not  feel  very  comfortable. 
Then  we  went  down  the  gully ;  it 
was  very  hard,  because  there  was 
no  path.  So  we  had  to  break  down 
the  bushes  with  our  pocket  knives. 
At  last  we  got  down  and  played  in 
the  high  grass,  about  two  feet  high. 
We  played  Indian.  We  had  two 
dogs,  one  was  Tommy,  the  other  I 
do  not  know.  That  evening  after 
dinner  we  played  in  one  of  the 
rooms  until  the  carriage  came. 
The  next  morning  we  took  a  nice 


40  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 

bath,  and  after  dinner  we  started 
for  Colorado  Springs,  where  we 
arrived  at  3  o'clock  in  the  after 
noon. 

We  rode  to  the  Hotel  Antlers; 
luncheon  was  over,  and  we  had  to 
wait  until  evening  for  our  dinner, 
which  we  enjoyed  very  much. 
Next  morning  we  went  to  church, 
as  it  was  Sabbath.  On  Monday 
we  went  to  Manitou  in  a  carriage, 
saw  the  different  springs  there,  went 
to  Rainbow  Falls,  Ute  Pass  and 
the  Garden  of  the  Gods,  where  we 
saw  the  Mushroom  Garden,  Wine 
Cellar,  the  Old  Man  of  the  Hills, 
the  Tower  of  Babel,  the  fine  Gate 
way  and  many  other  odd  things, 
We  drove  back  to  Colorado  Springs 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  41 

on  the  Mesa  road,  which  gave  us 
an  excellent  view  of  the  country. 
We  picked  yucca  leaves,  which  are 
like  sword  grass,  and  had  a  good 
deal  of  fun  with  them.  On  Tues 
day  we  went  to  Denver.  That 
evening  we  got  into  a  cable  car, 
which  had  a  very  nice  conductor, 
and  passed  a  great  many  fine 
buildingsr  He  told  us  when  he 
would  pass  the  hotel  next  morning 
going  the  other  way ;  so  we  went 
that  way  next  day.  In  the  after 
noon  we  went  to  the  Zoological 
Garden  to  see  a  little  engine  about 
two  feet  long  and  more  than  a  foot 
high,  with  a  car  to  carry  the 
engineer.  It  went  all  round  the 
track,  and  whistled  and  took  in 


42  FROM  NEW  YORK  TO 

water.  After  that  we  went  to  see 
the  bears,  got  some  ice  cream,  and 
went  home  to  the  hotel. 

After  staying  several  days  in 
Denver,  we  left  for  Chicago;  when 
we  got  there,  we  happened  to  meet 
Mark's  father  at  the  station,  who 
was  on  the  Queen  going  up  to 
Alaska.  He  took  us  to  his  house, 
and  there  we  met  Mark  and  his 
mother.  Mark  took  us  down  to 
see  his  kittens,  and  then  up  to  the 
top  storey,  where  we  played  all 
sorts  of  things.  After  lunch,  they 
took  us  out  to  the  park  for  a  drive, 
and  we  had  a  nice  time.  That 
afternoon  at  three  o'clock  we  started 
for  Niagara  Falls,  and  got  there 
the  next  morning  in  time  for  break- 


ALASKA  AND  BACK  AGAIN.  43 

fast.  It  was  raining  hard,  but 
cleared  up  in  the  afternoon,  and  we 
went  out  and  sat  on  the  bank 
watching  the  rapids. 

Next  morning  we  rode  all  round, 
over  to  some  little  islands,  and  down 
to  the  Whirlpool  Rapids,  and  down 
the  elevator  to  see  the  rapids.  The 
quick  dashing  river  runs  this  eleva 
tor.  We  bought  a  few  pretty 
things  at  the  stores.  About  noon 
we  left  for  Buffalo,  where  we  took 
dinner,  and  then  rode  all  round  the 
city.  It  is  a  large  city,  and  a  very 
nice  one.  Next  day  we  went  to 
Pittsburgh,  and  got  there  in  the 
evening. 

It  was  very  hot  weather.  On 
the  next  morning  we  went  to  see 


44  From  NEW  YORK  to  ALASKA  and  BACK  AGAIN. 

about  the  trunks,  and  then  we  went 
over  the  river  and  up  an  elevator 
that  takes  wagons  and  carriages  to 
the  top  of  one  of  those  high  hills. 
The  next  day  we  went  to  Union- 
town,  Pa.,  where  we  made  a  visit, 
and  then  went  to  the  mountains. 
We  came  back  to  New  York  in  the 
autumn. 


